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Extra-Long (>70 mins)
Old Testament
ReformedEvangelical

Art and the Decalogue: The Ethos of the Good Neighbourhood

Theologian

Craig Bartholomew


Duration

77.09


Uploaded to YouTube

17 February 2026

Added to Database

9 March 2026


YouTube description

Philip Rieff described the giving of the Mosaic Law as representing the “translation of the sacred order into social order.” How might this transformation of the social order by the sacred play out in the realm of the arts? In Christian history, the Mosaic Law has often served as a flashpoint in the debate about the appropriate role of artists in public life – particularly around the constraints on the creation of “graven images.” But do the Ten Commandments only represent limitations for the artist, or might they also represent a generative, redemptive mandate?

Craig Bartholomew brings his recent research on the Decalogue to bear on the role that the arts might play in a social order transformed and being transformed by the Word of God.

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46:31 Q&A
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